Lacking any information, a conjectural explanation of this unusual drawing is as follows: a portrait of Helen Mary Gaskell as she might have appeared as one of the subjects in The Golden Stairs. The galaxy of maidens who Burne-Jones had surrounded himself with in the 1870s did not include Helen Mary and so it is suggested that he has lightheartedly drawn her how she might have appeared. This explanation is proposed by the work being gold on gold, perhaps reference to the painting.